Germany is again agitating for other European countries to take what they believe to be their ‘fair’ share of refugees coming to the continent with a stark warning that failing to do so could see the collapse of the EU.

Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel made the remarks on Monday, reiterating the frequently made claim that some nations take a heavier than necessary burden, and others have an unarguable responsibility to get involved. Conveniently ignoring the fact that right-wing nation Hungary takes the highest number of migrants per capita in Europe, Gabriel said: “Germany, Sweden, and Austria take on most of the refugees. On the other hand, there are countries that take no, or very few, refugees. But we need a fair balancing”.

Taking aim at those further down the order of asylum applications (no doubt including direct neighbours Poland and the Czech Republic, over whom Germany takes 25 times more migrants per capita), Gabriel went on to give a dire prediction: “Some of the EU states think of Europe just as some kind of profiteering community, where you only co-operate if there’s money. And where you jump out when it’s about responsibility.

“People who behave like that will destroy Europe”, reportsTheLocal.de.

In figures from the European Union’s own statistics agency, Hungary was shown to be the largest net importer of humans in the European Union relative to native population. Sitting on a major migratory route from south-east Europe by way of Serbia, Hungary received 3,322 assylum applications per million head of population a year, by far the highest in Europe. The second highest is on the other side of the continent and almost as far away from the points of entry in the Balklands and Mediteranean ocean is Nordic Sweden, which takes 1,184 applications per million a year.

By way of contrast, the United Kingdom takes just 114 per million residents.

In terms of absolute migration however, Germany takes the crown. Taking nearly four in 10 of every asylum seeker arriving in Europe, it is thought there are some 300,000 asylum seekers in the country presently waiting to have their cases heard. Many Germans have found the sudden change hard to take, with street protest movement PEGIDA forming last year to object to various factors associated with mass immigration, and more violent elements attacking refugee centres to prevent the sudden arrival of large numbers of foreigners in their communities.